Firms win race for Olympics contracts
Two Black Country companies have won major contracts to supply the Olympic Games site in London, it was revealed today.
Zaun Fencing in Wolverhampton and Aldridge-based RMD Kwikform are among the hundreds of firms that have picked up around £3 billion of work so far on the massive construction project in Stratford, East London. With around £6bn more work to be done, Olympic organisers are hoping more businesses will follow them between now and 2012.
Zaun won a multi-million pound joint contact to design, manufacture and supply the fencing that surrounds the Olympic Park site.
The 17 kilometres of fencing – more than 10 miles – is five metres high with seven metre high lighting and CCTV columns every 25 metres.
Zaun, founded in 1996, specialises in making tailor-made fencing systems made at its factory in Steel Drive. Since moving to Wolverhampton in 2004, it has grown to employ around 53 people.
It was awarded the work last August and started work on the Olympic site in January, with the aim of having the job completed by the end of the year.
Company co-founder Paul Painter said: "During the current economic downturn, winning this contract has been even more important and this success will be shared by our suppliers and our employees, whose jobs are now secured.
"Already we have seen a number of other projects come our way as a result of winning this contract."
RMD Kwikform won its job supplying concrete formwork for the Olympic site with an impressive record of previous work, including sports stadia around the world, such as the Olympic stadium for the last Sydney games and the new Wembley site.
Formwork is the framing that shapes wet concrete and Kwikform is working on Stratford station, around 14 bridges across the Olympic site and on the £240 million Aquatic Centre. The company is providing the concrete supports to hold up the free-standing roof of the centre while the walls are under construction.
With its UK centre of excellence at Brickyard Road, in Aldridge, and a depot in nearby West Bromwich, RMD Kwikform employs around 65 people in the Black Country.
It specialises in producing the engineering and design work that client companies then use on their construction projects.
